Attorney General wants details on meeting agendas
From Sunshine Review
19 October 2008
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an opinion that government meeting agendas must be specific, otherwise they are risking violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act.[1]
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Public in the dark
Abbott issued the opinion following an investigation into the Corpus Christi City Council. Items on the Council's agenda were vague, such as "city manager's report," and contained no details on what was actually discussed. The end result is that the public is left in the dark.
Dave LaBrec, a governmental law attorney in Dallas, called it a win for open government, stating, "It doesn't matter if you are taking action [on an item]. The criteria is, the public's got a right to know." He said that it is not unusual to find agenda items with little or no information - "There are a lot of public entities around the state that do the same thing and, hopefully, this opinion will cause that approach to change."[1]
Information needed
The Attorney General's report said that agendas must include subjects of items and their discussion, regardless if action is taken or not. If a topic that is not on the agenda is brought up, officials are only allowed to state current policy or "specific factual information" by law. It can then be added to a future agenda in order to be discussed.[1]
External Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dallas Morning News, Texas Attorney General Abbott says government meeting agendas need to be specific, October 19, 2008
